The Adventures of Captain Horn eBook

its way to Cuba, and the unfortunate negroes had been
landed in British Guiana. It was impossible to
return them to Africa, because none of them could
speak English, or in any way give an idea as to what
tribes they belonged, and if they should be landed
anywhere in Africa except among their friends, they
would be immediately reenslaved. For some years
they lived in Guiana, in a little colony by themselves,
and then, a few of them having learned some English,
they made their way to Panama, where they obtained
employment as laborers on the great canal. Maka,
who was possessed of better intelligence than most
of his fellows, improved a good deal in his English,
and learned to cook very well, and having wandered
to San Francisco, had been employed for two or three
voyages by Captain Horn. Maka was a faithful
and willing servant, and if he had been able to express
himself more intelligibly, his merits might have been
better appreciated.

CHAPTER II

A NEW FACE IN CAMP

The morning after the departure of the boat, Captain
Horn, in company with the Englishman Davis, each armed
with a gun, set out on a tour of investigation, hoping
to be able to ascend the rocky hills at the back of
the camp, and find some elevated point commanding a
view over the ocean. After a good deal of hard
climbing they reached such a point, but the captain
found that the main object was really out of his reach.
He could now plainly see that a high rocky point to
the southward, which stretched some distance out to
sea, would cut off all view of the approach of rescuers
coming from that direction, until they were within
a mile or two of his landing-place. Back from
the sea the hills grew higher, until they blended
into the lofty stretches of the Andes, this being one
of the few points where the hilly country extends
to the ocean.

The coast to the north curved a little oceanward,
so that a much more extended view could be had in
that direction, but as far as he could see by means
of a little pocket-glass which the boy Ralph had lent
him, the captain could discover no signs of habitation,
and in this direction the land seemed to be a flat
desert. When he returned to camp, about noon,
he had made up his mind that the proper thing to do
was to make himself and his companions as comfortable
as possible and patiently await the return of his
mate with succor.

Captain Horn was very well satisfied with his present
place of encampment. Although rain is unknown
in this western portion of Peru, which is, therefore,
in general desolate and barren, there are parts of
the country that are irrigated by streams which flow
from the snow-capped peaks of the Andes, and one of
these fertile spots the captain seemed to have happened
upon. On the plateau there grew a few bushes,
while the face of the rock in places was entirely
covered by hanging vines. This fertility greatly
puzzled Captain Horn, for nowhere was to be seen any
stream of water, or signs of there ever having been
any. But they had with them water enough to last
for several days, and provisions for a much longer
time, and the captain felt little concern on this account.